It's about learning; It's not about schooling! Just say "node"!

That is interesting. I leaves me somewhat sad that the teachers couldn't find a better way to use the laptops. I can say that ground rules help, but I've never been in this type of situation, teacher facing 25 students with laptops who aren't paying attention to me. I've been on the other side, being one of the those adult students, who knew when to leave the laptop alone.

I do think though that there has to be time when the laptops are not used and students pay attention to the teacher and then are given the opportunity to work on the assignment using laptops. The teachers probably would have been more comfortable with smart boards, although I find that some teachers use it as a presentation tool rather than what it's used for. Same thing with the airliners, however, I am seeing more teachers in my building giving the students access to it, rather than lecturing with it.